German utility RWE has selected Dutch offshore surveying services provider Fugro to conduct a geophysical survey for its Thor offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

Fugro will use three survey vessels to conduct its detailed pre-construction survey 34km offshore Thorsminde, on the west coast of Denmark. The survey will include a search for unexploded ordnance (UXO).

The data will be used to lay out cable routes and pinpoint suitable locations for installing the turbines.

The survey for UXO at the wind farm’s site will continue until December 2023.

RWE offshore wind and Thor offshore wind farm project director Günther Fenle stated: “We are looking forward to using the data collected by Fugro to finalise the layout of the wind farm and to determine the routes for the inter-array and export cables. This is an important step towards the start of the construction works at sea in 2025.”

Fugro hydrography and cable route surveys service line director Marc Kebbel stated: “We are using a wide range of survey techniques, comprising offshore and nearshore standard geophysical and UXO surveys techniques, a seismic land refraction survey, and last but not least, Fugro’s rapid airborne multibeam mapping system for comprehensive mapping of the shallow area and beach in the transition zone.”

RWE estimates an investment of Dkr15.5bn ($2.19bn) in the Thor offshore wind farm.

With 1GW of capacity, it will be Denmark’s largest offshore project.

It is scheduled to begin operations at the end of 2027 and will generate enough clean energy for one million Danish households.

In May 2023, RWE began construction on the onshore substation in the municipality of Lemvig.

Siemens Energy, along with MT Højgaard Danmark, was selected as the civil engineering and construction contractor for the project.

In January 2023, Siemens Gamesa was selected as the preferred supplier of 72 SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines with 14MW of capacity.